Posts Tagged ‘butter’

I’ve taken pot-shots at the theater industry’s somewhat misaligned concept of proportional servings in the past, but I thought I was due to revisit the comedic devise for today’s strip.

I tried coming up with a good joke for today’s release of The Cat in the Hat, but I kept coming back to punch lines involving raves, The Grateful Dead or related drug humor. Frankly, we’re just not that kind of comic.

Gothika is the other big release today and I couldn’t think of a damn thing to make fun of there other than how bad Halle Berry’s hair looks. But I guess it’s alright, ‘cuz she’s supposed to be cra-zay!

I think my movie options this weekend are kind of slim, but I don’t really care. My good friend Nick is coming to visit from Minneapolis this weekend and we’re gonna tear it up Iowa-style!

I guess I didn’t mention how my experience at the Henry Rollins spoken word show went on Wednesday. Well, it went okay!

We didn’t get there until about 10 minutes before he went on. So we were left scrambling for seats. We ended up in the balcony probably a good 200 feet away from him. This was a change in scenery for me because in my usual fan-boy way I would drag everyone to the show an hour in advance to get good seats. I’ve seen him 4 other times before this and we’ve always been just a few rows away from the stage.

Not that I minded, particularly. We could still hear him great. That is, whenever the two girls sitting next to me decided to discontinue one of their several lengthy conversations. And what was up with the girl in front of us taking pictures with some kind of high-powered flash? I think it may have bleached the skin of people sitting in the 3 rows in front of her.

Rollins was cool. He seemed more mellow than usual. He told a lot of good stories. Standouts included his tale of catching a burglar as he was in the process of breaking into his home and getting out of jury duty. He shared a few “Hollywood” stories, too – talking about his attendance at the premieres of The School of Rock and Kill Bill. He also talked about being dissed by Sheryl Crow.

After the show, Cami and I hung around outside to see if we could get a picture with Henry. But after a half hour, we decided to bolt. We had an hour long drive ahead of us at 10:30 at night and work the next day. On top of that, we had to pick up Truman at my parents place on the way home. We didn’t want him to be cooped up in his crate all day, so my folks babysat for us. How cool are they?

I bought Final Fantasy X-2 yesterday and I’m looking forward to finding some time to commit to it. What I’ve played so far is really a lot of fun. I enjoyed Final Fantasy X immensely. I’ve played all the way through it 3 times. It’s probably my favorite game of all time.

I don’t want to come off sounding like a FF fan boy, so I think I’ll cut it off there.

I hope everyone has a good weekend. Next weekend is Thanksgiving and I’m sure that’s going to throw a lot of us into upheaval. Hopefully you’ll still make time to visit the site. I plan to keep updating through the holiday.

If you haven’t joined the forums yet, look into it. We’re having a lot of fun in there.

I would notify you of the new incentive sketch I had drawn to go along with today’s comic, but as of this writing, buzzComix is experiencing some kind of outage. When their site is back up, I’ll let you know when you can check out the new sketch.

Today’s comic kicks off a new four-comic story arc. It revolves around the opening of Central Iowa’s newest theater, The Century 20.

I know that for most of you, the specifics of this announcement impacts you about as greatly as Kirstie Alley announcing she has a new show on cable announcing she’s fat. But I’ve given myself the challenge to make the experience of a new theater opening in a mid-sized metropolitan community relatable. I’ll FIND a way to make you care!

Hey, if I can do three strips in a row taking shots at the Wynnsong 16, I can unlock a method to make The Century 20 interesting! Trust me, the story line will be good.

The opening of The Century 20 coincides with the opening of the new Jordan Creek Town Center literally 5 minutes from my house. It’s Iowa’s largest retail complex ever and they’re expecting 100,000 people to be in attendance when they cut the ribbon on the place.

I, unfortunately, will be at work.

I think the mall will be nice, but a lot of the stores there are aiming for clients with more liquid amounts of cash. They are also targeting people who don’t care if they’re overspending 20 to 30%.

The real boon to me is the new theater. It didn’t dawn on me until Cami pointed it out a month ago, but in order for us to see any movies in the theater, we have to drive at least two towns over. That’s about 20 minutes in the car each way. Not a big deal cuz I like to drive, but it’ll be nice not to have to fight traffic just to see a simple movie. Especially after a late showing.

I’m also excited for The Century 20 because all the other theaters around us have basically given up trying to make your movie-going experience comfortable or even neutral. For the most part, they seem to go out of their way to annoy and inconvenience you.

Let me begin by saying that Yes, I did see Sin City this weekend and its imagery has been swimming around in my head ever since. I’ve been replaying different scenes from the movie over and over in my mind. I’ve been comparing them against the comics for accuracy.

My conclusion is this: Sin City is the most faithful, most accurate, most astonishing comic book movie ever committed to celluloid.

If you’re a fan of comic book movies. See it. If you’re a fan of films that wield technical advancement with marksman precision – See it.

The only caveat I would insert is that (although black and white) the movie is VERY GORY. Lots of bullet-riddled bodies. People being decapitated. People losing hands and other extremities. People being blown up. Sin City ∗earns∗ its “R” rating. If it were in color, it would be NC-17.

That said, I hope you’re enjoying my continued re-interpretation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel classics. Today’s comic is parodying the last page of That Yellow Bastard, part 5 of 6. In my opinion it’s the best of the Sin City books. It also happens to bookend the movie, which I think is no coincidence. The more I think about it, the more I love it.

Some of you might be curious how things turned out at the Kansas City Planet Comicon comic book convention. First of all, I have to give props to the show organizers who were very attentive and made sure we were having a good time. I haven’t been to a lot of these things, but when we needed chairs for the booth, they were on it. And during the show, they came around to ask us if everything was okay and if we were having fun. A small gesture, but it meant a lot. Especially considering we were sitting on Artist’s Alley. We’re the guys who pay the least to exhibit our wares, so it’s not like we’re getting rock star treatment.

Anyway, I had a blast catching up with Mitch and Zach, as evident by this picture:

Sorry, Mitch old bean. But when you take a goofy picture, odds are it’s gonna end up on the internet.

IT’S OVER!

/inside joke.

But in all seriousness, we had a blast. Time flew by while we were down there and we had a bunch of great conversations about our comics, our motivations and our future in “The Game” as it were.

That dramaticizes things a bit, but what I’m trying to communicate is that it was time well spent and it really re-energized me.

Between work and life, there is very little room for the comic. The time I spend on it can sometimes wear you down. I’m not trying to lay a big “woe is me” story on you. Just stating the facts. Every once in a while, you run the risk of suffering burnout. This weekend strengthened my defenses against it.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the booth and said they liked what we do. And for those of you kind enough and curious enough to give us a chance after meeting us for the first time this weekend, thanks for looking us up in the digital realm. Hopefully we can keep you as readers.

Now only if I can figure out a way to bail Jared out of the Imperial drunk tank. He’s a handful, that one!

I wish I knew where the idea for this joke came from. Trust me, kiddies. The original version was much, MUCH worse.

I used to work in a movie theater back when they switched to talkies and I remember quite vividly the gelatinous glob that was the base for the “butter” topping we put on popcorn. It looked like cud or maybe that viscous white gel at the bottom of a can of Spam. It came wrapped in cellophane in gigantic two-pound bricks. We’d toss it into the machine with the pump on it which was basically a crock pot that warmed it up and melted it down. Then, like an oil slick, we’d slather it over the top of each order of corn.

Knowing what I do about this butter product, you’d think I would avoid it when making my purchase at the concession stand. Sadly, I do not. I’ve often imagined if there might be a more natural alternative. Maybe actual butter? But, more likely, it would turn out to be something worse.

I don’t know how many of you had a chance to call in and listen to The Triple Feature talkcast on Monday night, but if you missed it, I would strongly encourage you to download it. I think Gordon, Joe and I had a very good show on Monday talking about Pan’s Labyrinth and the recent MPAA rules change and I’m really looking forward to next Monday’s show where we’ll talk about the recent Oscar nominations – announced today. Join us next Monday at 9:00 pm CST and be sure to participate!

Regarding the Oscar nominations, I guess I’m still kind of digesting it. I think it’s interesting that Dreamgirls could lead the pack with eight nominations, but not garner one for Best Picture, Best Director or Best Screenplay. I think it’s funny that three of it’s eight nominations are in the Best Original Song category and I think it’s REALLY funny that it’s only acting nods went to best Supporting Actor and Actress (Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson, respectively) rather than to the film’s two leads, Jamie Foxx and Beyonce Knowles. It makes me feel justified in the sense that I wasn’t very excited about helping to feed the egos of two high-profile members of the entertainment community who I believe think a little too highly of themselves to begin with.

I find it odd that Leonardo DiCaprio was nominated for Best Actor for his performance in Blood Diamond and not The Departed, but I’m otherwise pleased by the nominations in that category. Giving Ryan Gosling the nod for Half Nelson really came out of nowhere, but it was a welcome surprise.

I was shocked to see Alan Arkin on the list for his performance in Little Miss Sunshine, but was even more surprised to see Mark Wahlberg beat out Jack Nicholson in the same category. Who would have thought I would have ever uttered “Mark Wahlberg” and “Academy Award nominee” in the same sentence. Shame he’ll never live down being Marky Mark.

In the Best Actress category, I think it’s intesting that Meryl Streep is the only American actress in the running. Just goes to show what Hollywood thinks of women performers. Apparently if there is a British accent involved, that adds legitimacy? Look over the last few years of Best Actress nominees and hardly any are American. I think it’s an odd coincidence. Incidentally, at this point, I think it’s Helen Mirren’s race to lose.

Quick sidebar: Did anyone notice that Borat was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay? Wait a minute? So you mean it WASN’T REAL?! DAMN YOU, SACHA BARON COHEN!

That’s a pretty high level look at things. Typically I also like to comment on the technical categories like Best Special Effects and Best Makeup. But I think I’ll leave things be for the moment.

What was your take on the Oscar nominations. Are you excited about this year’s ceremony? Leave your comments below!

I don’t know what was going on with me that I couldn’t figure out something more creative with the background. But, uh… HEY! Charlie has a new haircut! Look at that! WOW!

Knocked Up is in theaters this weekend, appearing in theaters at what I think is a very opportune time. It’s been almost a month since Spider-Man 3 landed in theaters and kicked off the blockbuster season. So far, we’ve survived it and it’s “threequel” brethren Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Knocked Up comes at a time when I think people are prepared to take a step away from fantasy for a while and get a little closer to real people and situations again.

Of course, Seth Rogen landing in bed with Katherine Heigl isn’t exactly realistic, but this is why we love Hollywood. They tweak reality just enough to keep us interested. I’m sure that the movie will play this disparity in physical attractiveness to it’s advantage. I expect nothing less from Judd Apatow and crew.

It pleases me to no end the Seth Rogen is stepping up into the unlikely leading man category. If you’ve watched Undeclared, you know that they guy has an affiable charm that’s fun to watch. Even when he’s being a jerk, it works. So it’ll be interesting to see how he manages when he has to filter sarcasm through his heart.

At this point I’m not going to go into my Apatow-love speech. Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, The 40 Year-Old Virgin. Either you get it by now or you don’t. I really appreciate that Apatow is using the same stable of actors and creating his own little universe. The smartest thing any director can do is bring Paul Rudd into his movies. So, needless to say, I have high hopes for Knocked Up.

Interesting factoid: Did you guys know that Knocked Up was originally written to be a sequel to The 40 Year-Old Virgin that featured the Smart Tech crew? I’m glad they came to their senses and invented a new set of characters for the actors to inhabit. The Smart Tech guys were brilliantly effective within the context of T40YOV, but that kind of misogynistic buffonery probably wouldn’t work on it’s own. You need the wholesomeness of Steve Carell’s character to balance that out.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say about that.

I wanted to tip you guys off to a new t-shirt design I’m taking pre-orders for right now: Movie Law #948.

Fans of the comic will recognize the concept of this shirt from this comic, wherein Tom discusses actor Sean Bean’s proclivity toward expiring in what seems like the majority of his movies.

Readers with good long-term memories might recall that I submitted initial designs of the shirt for feedback, but was talked out of producing the shirt when the spector of copyright infringement was brought up.

After the controversy with Threadless over the Spoiler shirts last week, a switch flipped in my head. If these guys can get away with using Darth Vader’s head in what turned out to be the most fastest-selling shirt, then li’l old me can get away with an artistic interpretation of Sean Bean’s mug. If I get a cease and desist letter, then that will be the end of it. In the meantime, screw it. People have been asking for it, the work was half way done… let’s run ‘er up the flagpole and see if she flies.

My problem with t-shirt design is that it takes very little to derail me on an idea I have because it’s such a large investment for me. I could have 50 people respond and tell me “I want that shirt!” but if one person responds and says “copyright infringement!” or “I couldn’t tell that was Sean Bean,” I quit. That’s lame. I have a bunch of great ideas. I just need to push them through.

Well, I’ve decided instead of producing Theater Hopper: Year Three this summer, I’m taking the nest egg I’ve stored up and spending it on t-shirt production that will hopefully generate interest in the store and spur book sales when people take advantage of the bundling options.

So pre-order this shirt now through June 13. Moving forward, I’ll be producing more shirts. Hopefully you like some or all of them. We can use the support.

Oh, and for the people that are curious, Movie Law #948 has a list of all the movies in which Sean Bean dies on screen (so far). If you want to see what they are, visit the page in our store and pre-order now!

Credit where credit is due, it was my friend Lauren from Honey Bee Manor that made the observation about Jesse Eisenberg’s proclivity to star in movies that end with “land” in a Twitter post a couple of months ago. I kept that in my Rolodex of ideas and I hope she doesn’t mind me borrowing it. Maybe if all of you visit her blog, she won’t be mad.

Of course, one look at Eisenberg’s IMDB page and we can see he’s starred in many movies besides Adventureland and Zombieland, it’s kind of interesting that his most high-profile outings are so similarly titled.

I like Eisenberg. He seems like a sharp guy who has a little bit more going on under the surface than he lets on in a face-to-face conversation. So I think it’s kind of interesting that he’s adapted his East coast know-it-all persona to something like Zombieland – which, from the trailers, seems to be more about gallows humor than anything else.

For the record, I’m not a fan of zombie movies. Specifically, because I don’t do well with gore. Probably the last zombie movie I watched (if you can call it that) was Planet Terror. And even though the violence and the raspberry glop they used as blood in that movie were so cartoonishly over the top, it still made me squeamish.

That said, I’m interested in seeing Zombieland primarily because the trailers make it look like a lot of fun. The zombies don’t look particularly scary. Just kind of unfortunate. So instead of being scared out of my wits by a bunch of jump cuts and slow pans across zombies feasting on intestines, I can enjoy the vicarious thrill of putting a shotgun to the temple of the undead and get some video game jollies out of it.

More than anything, I’m impressed with the cast. Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin and Woody Harrelson are all smart actors. Harrelson is especially disarming when he plays up the Midwestern bumpkin he perfected on Cheers. And am I seeing this right? Is Bill Murray in the movie playing himself?

Oh, yeah. This is a must-see.

I hope I have time to get around to it this weekend. It looks like Cami and I are going to make time on Saturday to see Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D as part of it’s two week limited engagement starting this Friday. We’re huge Pixar fans and I read some particularly positive reviews from a screening that took place last week. Apparently the 3D really does the films justice and there is some fun trivia and original content during the intermission.

Originally we had it in our head that this would be Henry’s first movie. He was a little too young to watch Up when it was in theaters earlier this year. But since then, we’ve indoctrinated him into the world of Pixar by watching Finding Nemo, Cars and Toy Story at home. He has no problem sitting through any of the movies. They keep his attention throughout. Whether or not he would have the patience to sit through TWO movies back to back, with the 3D glasses on, in a new environment he’s never been in before… well, that’s something else entirely. We’ll probably end up taking him to The Princess and The Frog later in the year and that will be his first movie.

I should mention that I had a chance to see a sneak preview of Whip It! over the weekend – the roller derby movie directed by Drew Barrymore. It comes out this weekend as well.

I liked the movie. Certainly Barrymore’s trademark enthusiasm translates through her role as a director. I have a review rolling around in the back of my head that I might try to publish here on the site either tomorrow or Thursday. But if I don’t I’m sure I will be talking about it tonight on The Triple Feature. So be sure to tune in live at 9PM CST over at TalkShoe for some meaty movie discussion!

Until then, tell me what you guys think about Zombieland. Do you think it looks more funny than scary? What do you think about the cast? Is it weird for Woody Harrelson to be running around with a couple of twenty-somethings and a tween? Are you planning on seeing Zombieland this weekend, or something else? Lots of good stuff coming out on Friday. Leave your comments below!